Mexico blasts Forbes for putting drug lord on list

This undated image released by Mexico's Attorney General's Office on May 31, 1993, shows Drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias "El Chapo Guzman" at an undisclosed location. Guzman was included in Forbes last list of billionaires. The magazine estimates his worth at $1 billion, number 701 on the lis

/ AP

This undated image released by Mexico's Attorney General's Office on May 31, 1993, shows Drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias "El Chapo Guzman" at an undisclosed location. Guzman was included in Forbes last list of billionaires. The magazine estimates his worth at $1 billion, number 701 on the list. (AP Photo/Procuraduria General de la Republica)

This undated image released by Mexico's Attorney General's Office on May 31, 1993, shows Drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias "El Chapo Guzman" at an undisclosed location. Guzman was included in Forbes last list of billionaires. The magazine estimates his worth at $1 billion, number 701 on the list. (AP Photo/Procuraduria General de la Republica) (/ AP)

The Associated Press

Mexico is decrying Forbes Magazine's decision to include the reputed leader of one of the country's most violent drug cartels on its list of billionaires.

Forbes ranks Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, with an estimated $1 billion fortune, at No. 701 – between a Swiss oil-trading tycoon and an American chemical heir.

Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted fugitive, is believed to head the Sinaloa cartel.

President Felipe Calderon said Thursday that "magazines are not only attacking and lying about the situation in Mexico but are also praising criminals."

Mexico's Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said Forbes is defending crime by "comparing the deplorable activity of a criminal wanted in Mexico and abroad with that of honest businessmen."